Virus-hit cruise passenger quarantines on Pacific island
Sydney, AUSTRALIA—A passenger from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship is in quarantine on tiny Pitcairn Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty.
The woman, a US citizen, journeyed halfway across the globe to reach remote Pitcairn Island after disembarking the cruise ship in Saint Helena, authorities said.
“We can confirm that someone who had contact with a hantavirus-exposed individual is currently isolating on Pitcairn Island, showing no signs of illness,” said a Pitcairn government spokesperson.
“We are working closely with the health authorities and the UK Government to manage the situation. The well-being of our community remains the top priority.”
It was not clear how long the woman might be stuck on Pitcairn Island or how she will be isolated from the around 50 people who call the British territory home.
Pitcairn Islanders contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) said they had been advised against speaking with journalists and should pass all questions on to government officials.
Jet-setter
It was no small effort for the jet-setting American to reach Pitcairn Island, which bills itself as a “must see for adventurous travelers seeking truly remote horizons.”
She first flew from San Francisco to Tahiti and then onward to the isle of Mangareva in outer French Polynesia.
From Mangareva most tourists reach Pitcairn by hitching a 32-hour ride on one of the cargo ships that shuttle back and forth every few days.
The government of French Polynesia said she had done all this without telling authorities of her possible exposure to hantavirus.
She will not be allowed to leave the island as long as she “poses a risk to others,” the government said in a statement earlier this week.
The UK government—which counts Pitcairn as an overseas territory—said the woman was not symptomatic, but it was still taking a “precautionary approach.”
There is only one grocery store on Pitcairn Island, which typically opens three times a week.
The nearest hospitals are in French Polynesia, some 2,170 kilometers to the northwest, or New Zealand, about 5,300 km southwest.
Three people died after the rare rat-borne hantavirus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare.
